Shoaib Akhtar: “We felt the absence of Shaheen [Afridi] and Naseem [Shah] – I mean, they are specialist T20 bowlers”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar believes the national team “felt the absence” of fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah during their recent T20I assignments.
Both of them were left out of Pakistan’s squad for their T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore and the tour of Bangladesh, which consisted of three T20Is.
Afridi returned for the three-match T20I series against the West Indies and took two wickets in two games at an average of 29 and an economy rate of 7.25.
As for the T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan, the 25-year-old ended up with four wickets in four games at an average of 19.50 and an economy rate of 5.57.
While Afridi successfully made his T20I comeback, Naseem has continued to be overlooked by the selectors.
Akhtar is not sure why either of them were ever left out of the T20I side in the first place as he considers them to be specialist bowlers in the shortest format.
“We felt the absence of Shaheen [Afridi] and Naseem [Shah] – I mean, they are specialist T20 bowlers,” the Rawalpindi Express was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Pakistan are now in action in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
Their opening match will be against Oman on September 12 in Dubai.
Pakistan squad for UAE T20I tri-series and 2025 Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
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